- Culler questions what is literature and does it matter? Culler defines literature in many different ways. For instance, Culler says “literature comes in all shapes and sizes, and most of them seem to have more in common with works that aren’t usually called literature”. The author draws a parallel between Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre an autobiography and a poem by Robert Burns called ‘My love is like a red, red rose’. The author makes this point to make us, the reader question what we call literature and why we treat something as literature. I found the most important aspect of this section of the chapter is the comparison to weeds and literature. Culler mentions that “Weeds are simply plants that gardeners don’t want in their gardens” so there is no clear cut definition for weeds similar to literature. It is important for us to think about the definitions of literature because it’s important to question something that surrounds us on a daily basis. Especially when it comes down to what we consider literature and not.
- A question that stayed with me as I was reading this chapter was “what differentiates literature from other human activities and pastimes?”.
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